Atlanta Hawks controlling owner Bruce Levenson has taken it upon himself to report to the NBA that he sent a racist email in August of 2012. In light of recent events, Levenson has made the decision to sell his interest in the team.

Levenson wrote an email to Hawks President, Danny Ferry, which said, “My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base.”

Of course, Al Sharpton was quick to jump at the chance to employ his best race-baiting tactics to the situation. He released a statement on Sunday demanding that the NBA deal with the issue of racism by working with more minorities. Sharpton stated:

“The announcement by Bruce Levenson is welcomed and appropriate by those of us in the civil rights community, that raised the issue of Donald Sterling’s need to be removed, and that other owners must be held accountable.

Commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA, following that strong recommendation from us after meeting with Mark Morial of the National Urban League, Melanie Campbell of the Black Women’s Roundtable, Cornel Brooks and myself; has now forced another owner out of the closet of racial intolerance into the daylight of public accountability.

We strongly urge the Commissioner to continue vetting all owners. We at NAN also urge the Commissioner to deal with lack of minority ownership in the NBA as these franchises become available, and their policies of doing business with minorities must be part of the package. Otherwise we are just trading billionaires for billionaires, rather than changing unfair exclusion for a better policy. We intend to meet with the Commissioner again to continue this process.”

Just like there is inexpensive housing for low-income families, Sharpton would offer team ownership to poor individuals, as long as they’re black, of course. If he had his way, we’d have affirmative action within the NBA. But here’s the catch: there are far more African Americans within the league than any other race. The chart below, sourced from Wikipedia, helps to illustrate that fact.

If Sharpton really cared about equality, he would be working to ensure that the NBA signs more white players.

It’s hard to imagine an industry which employs more African Americans than the NBA. Do you think Al Sharpton was a bit off base when he issued this statement? Sound off in the comments section!